The present invention relates to the field of communications in general and more particularly to Time Division Multiple Access and/or Global System for Mobile communications (TDMA/GSM) switches.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional system for accessing descriptive materials associated with a TDMA/GSM switch 10 utilizing the Active Library Explorer service (ALEXserv) 30. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the TDMA/GSM switch 10 is accessed through an adjunct processor (AP) 12. The AP 12 provides data (often referred to as a “dump”) to the switch 10 for operation of the switch 10 and provides access to the switch 10 for service, maintenance, reporting and the like. The dump is loaded onto the AP 12 and then installed on the switch 10. Access to the switch 10 and/or the AP 12 is conventionally provided by a terminal 14 connecting to the AP 12, either directly or remotely through, for example, the network 20. The network 20 may, for example, be the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or the like.
Typically, the terminal 14 sends commands to the switch 10 through a Unix Wiol window. The commands recognized by the switch 10 and their format are, typically, dependent on the data (i.e. the dump) loaded on the AP 12 that is provided to the switch 10. Thus, the particular commands utilized to access and/or control the switch 10 and/or the format of data output by the switch, such as the format of reports or the like, is, typically, dependent on the dump provided to the AP 12. Accordingly, a technician at the terminal 14 will, generally, need to know the designation of the dump provided to the AP 12 from which the formats of particular commands and/or outputs of the switch 10 may be determined.
If a technician does not know a format for a particular command or output, such format may be looked up through the terminal 14 using a help/documentation system known as the ALEXserv 30 system. ALEXserv 30 includes a plurality of databases 32, 32′, 32″, 32′″ and 32″″ that are help and/or documentation databases associated with the different data (i.e. dumps) provided to a switch, such as switch 10. While five databases are illustrated in FIG. 1, ALEXserv 30 typically includes many more databases, even hundreds of databases, each associated with a particular function, code level or the like of a dump provided to one or more adjunct processors, such as AP 12.
The ALEXserv 30, conventionally, is accessed over an intranet and is provided as a web based application where a web browser is utilized to select the appropriate databases to search for a particular piece of information. The user, typically, utilizes knowledge of the dump provided to a particular AP 12 to select a database and/or databases that contain information associated with a particular switch 10. Thus, to locate information for a particular switch 10, a switch technician will, typically, have to open a web connection, for example, over the network 20′, to the ALEXserv 30 and start the ALEXserv application locally. The connection from the terminal 14 to the ALEXserv 30 will, typically, be an intranet connection or the like. Furthermore, the network 20 may be the same network as the network 20′ or they may be different networks.
While the conventional system illustrated in FIG. 1 may provide access to documentation and/or help information through the ALEXserv 30, to do so the terminal 14 must, typically, have access to a network which may provide a connection to the ALEXserv 30. Such a connection may not always be available, for example, at a customer site. Alternatively, the technician would, typically, need to download the ALEXserv databases 32–32″″ to the terminal 14 and execute the ALEXserv application locally. While such a download may overcome the need for a connection to the ALEXserv service 30, the technician may still be required to know which of the databases are associated with a particular switch 10 being operated from the terminal 14. Furthermore, access to the switch 10 and the ALEXserv 30 may be provided by separate connections and/or applications and the technician may, in such cases, have to switch between the applications and/or connections to access the switch 10 and the ALEXserv 30.